


Something Like That

by Lokei



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: The Broca Divide, Gen, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-02
Updated: 2007-10-02
Packaged: 2017-10-19 04:58:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/197157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokei/pseuds/Lokei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack checks in with Daniel after the Neanderthal incident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Like That

Jack leaned in the doorway of Daniel’s office, which should have looked cavernous compared with the shoeboxes most SGC personnel had, but wasn’t. Some indefinable Daniel-ness had taken over the space already, which was simply intensified by the archaeologist’s presence.

Right now, for instance, the archaeologist in question was frowning thoughtfully at the tiny bull statue which Tupulo had gifted him for protecting his daughter during their foray among the Touched. He turned it over and over in nimble, cautious fingers, completely unaware of his friend lurking in the doorway. His face was alive with thought, expressions crossing in a bewildering parade that even Jack found hard to follow. Suddenly his face shuttered and he put the statuette down more abruptly than one might expect for someone who thought Indiana Jones should be summarily shot for his cavalier handling of artifacts.

Daniel leaned back and rubbed his upper arm slowly, rotating his head until it cracked painfully loudly, and groaning a little as he shifted in his chair.

“Sore?” Jack’s voice dropped into the mechanized humming quiet more softly than he had anticipated, but Daniel’s head still came up like he’d heard a gunshot. When he registered Jack, the wary look in his eyes was replaced with a weary grin.

“Yeah.”

Jack sauntered in and perched himself on the edge of the table near Daniel’s elbow. His next question was light, but the tension in his shoulders belied the casual tone. “Got you good, did I?”

Daniel’s head tilted up at an angle that matched the upquirk of his lips—minute, but mischievous.

“Not as good as Sam got you.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Still—“ his eyes were troubled. “I knocked you down—I remember that.”

Daniel shrugged. “The SF’s pulled you off pretty fast, most of these bruises are from later. Anyway, you know it’s hardly the first time that’s happened.”

Jack’s memory flashed to Kawalsky’s fist impacting with Daniel’s face back on Abydos. He winced.

“Yeah. Didn’t ever mean it to be me, though.” He hoped Daniel would take that for the apology it was.

Daniel apparently did, but as usual, he apparently also had other plans. “I know,” he replied with a shrug, “I was more surprised than anything else.” He shot Jack a look reminiscent of one of those that had flitted across his face earlier. “I did wonder why, though.”

Jack shifted on his perch, feeling again that wash of raging jealousy that Daniel had seemed more concerned about Carter than about him, remembering yelling that “Samantha” wasn’t his to care about.

“Dunno,” he said instead. “Don’t remember, really. Crazy, drugged up alpha chimpanzee thing, I guess. Wasn’t me.”

Daniel bit his lip and got that ‘thinking’ crease between his eyebrows. “I wondered,” he said again, slowly turning Tupelo’s little statue thingy on his desk, eyes clouded. “Because when I…succumbed—all I could think about was needing to protect Milosha. That…I couldn’t fail another one,” he took a deep breath, “like I’ve failed Sha’re.”

His chin tucked to his chest and gave off all signs of staying there, but Jack wasn’t having it. He put a hand on Daniel’s arm, just above where a livid bruise peeked out from beneath the sleeve. His thumb rubbed absent circles as he spoke.

“Hey,” he said, “You haven’t failed her. You’re still looking. We’ll keep looking, okay?”

Daniel gave him one of those weak smiles that was more like a grimace, but it was an improvement over the turtle act. “Okay.”

“And who knows why you remember more than I do about that Touched stuff,” Jack continued blithely, turning on the charm. Distraction he could do. “Maybe you should be thanking your allergy meds, or maybe you’re just more evolved than I am, or something.”

Daniel’s lips resumed their upwards progress. “Something like that,” he agreed, and Jack did an invisible inner victory dance.

“C’mon,” he said, slapping Daniel’s shoulder. “Pizza and beer, my treat. Lots of beer.”

Daniel tilted his head to one side and Jack saw with pleasure the gleam that returned to his eyes. “Voluntary devolution this time?” he queried with a small smirk.

Jack grinned. “Something like that.”


End file.
